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Report
Silicon Times Report Issue 0045
ST REPORT WEEKLY ONLINE MAGAZINE
Monday, July 25, 1988
Vol II No. 45
===========
APEInc., P.O. BOX 74, Middlesex, N.J. 08846-0074
PUBLISHER MANAGING EDITOR
Ron Kovacs R.F.Mariano
=======================================================
ST REPORT EDITOR: Thomas Rex Reade
PO Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida. 32236
Headquarters Bulletin Boards
ST Report North ST Report Central ST Report South
201-968-8148 216-784-0574 904-786-4176
------------------------------------
CONTENTS
========
> From the Editor's Desk..............> ST REPORT ART CONTEST RULES.......
> FOREM VER. 2.2 (B) INFO.............> Leaning Toward the Future.........
> Nostalgia - Remember When?..........> GFA BASICS [A]....................
> A Dirty Word........................> GFA BASICS [B]....................
> ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL..............> Courting Financial Chaos..........
=========================================================================
EXCLUSIVELY ON: COMP-U-SERVE ~ GENIE ~ DELPHI
=========================================================================
From the Editor's Desk:
Sometimes it is very difficult to keep things in their proper proportion
and believe me I try. In the past few weeks a new and very interesting
story has slowly been unfolding that really will peel your eyes open.
Without fail it concerns our favorite computer company and all that will
be said now is it has to do with the increasing difficulties that the
dealer network is experiencing in doing business with Atari and will
contain quite a bit of provocative material from the dealer base.
Hopefully, it will serve to point out the cracks in the "system" Atari
has in place and perhaps help to mend the broken lines of trust and
maybe rebuild faith Atari Corp.
Many of our readers ask, do you really feel Atari reads ST Report?, I can
only say it has prompted several calls to this reporter from "real people"
at Atari Corp. ...yes they are genuinely concerned, but in my opinion NOT
concerned enough yet to really stop the short fall and do a turn-around.
It would appear that a few more management changes are desperately
needed. (No, NOT Neil! He has nothing to do with this).
To start with, they could sure use a REAL Sales Manager, the "T. Turner"
type..taught by the school of EXPERIENCE, not by what some professor said
it was supposed to be...Fact is, most of the super marketing people
started by " KNOCKING on DOORS! To pluck a graduate straight from school
because he is less expensive or carries "prestige" is a sorry mistake
afforded only by those companies having enough experienced people in
the same departments as the "schoolies" to foresee the errors and avoid
them. Atari you don't have that luxury, you are too busy forcing too few
people to perform the jobs of many....Ahhhh, but that's another story.
The folks at Atari never cease to amaze me, instead of catering to the
marketplace, (dealers and potential dealers), they are busy coming up with
bigger and better ways to anger them and chase them away! How very
progressive and imaginative.
The expose beginning next week will detail the dealer problems and
suggested solutions.
Rex......
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
*:NOTICE TO ALL ATARI DEALERS:*
---------------------------
Have a compliment or a gripe with Atari???
Send it in writing to:
ST Report
PO BOX - 6672
Jax., Florida, 32236
ALL correspondence kept CONFIDENTIAL unless otherwise noted.
--- ------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** IMPORTANT NOTICE ***
================
RE: ATARI DEVELOPER'S KIT Cost: 300.00 Value: 100.00
-------------------------
I just received a developer's kit from Atari, PAID IN FULL, and must say I
am really sadly disappointed.
Items Received:
---------------
* 1000 sheets of photocopied material mainly about the 520ST, 90% OLD
& OUTDATED. (no binders of any kind, they were rubber banded!)
* C Programming, by Mark Williams Co. An OLD VERSION! I already own a
much newer version!
* 5 disks of utilities from Atari that I could D/L from either GEnie or
CompuServe.
ALL THIS FOR A MERE 300.00!
---------------------------
I certainly feel I have been taken advantage of and fervently warn other
potential purchasers of this "EXCEPTIONAL DEAL" to wait until Atari
either brings this thing up to date, or comes forward with a new format
for the developers......
Atari, you OWE it to yourself and to folks who have paid the $300.00 to
provide: Up-to-date info about the 520, 520 STF, 1040, The Mega 2/4 ST
SLM804 and the rest of the 16 bit product line or, at least, let all the
owners of the Developer's Kit know that updates are on the way...including
the sealed C programming you are providing that's OLD. (Newer versions of
MWC are readily available). I am sure you would NEVER want anybody to
feel they have been had.
Hmmm.. I most certainly can see where a "NEW" Developer could easily begin
a hostle relationship with Atari right from the GETGO! This sort of thing
is disgraceful!
R.F.Mariano
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE JUDGES LIST
===============
Service Name
------- ------------
CIS Ron Luks
CIS Dan Rhea
CIS Mike Schoenbach
GEnie Darlah Hudson
GEnie Fred Beckman
GEnie Sandy Wilson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST-Report Official Contest Rules
================================
No purchase necessary.
Deadline for consideration in this contest is midnight August 31, 1988.
Winners will be announced in ST-Report on September 12, 1988. We
guarantee to award all prizes. The prize list will be announced during
the contest.
All readers are eligible to enter except employees of APEInc.
Publishing, CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi and their immediate families.
This contest void where prohibited or restricted by law. We are not
responsible for lost, mis-marked, or delayed art/work.
All submissions must be drawn with any Atari ST drawing program.
All submissions must be drawn by the original artist. Copyrighted art work
will not be accepted.
All submissions become the property of APEInc.
All submissions must be uploaded to specified BBS systems by the deadline
date. All systems have time and date stamping capability. Any entry dated
after 8/31/88 will be void from the contest.
Art Work Requirements
---------------------
All art work considered for this contest must be drawn with any Atari ST
drawing program.
Any person submitting art work must leave an address, telephone number,
and drawing program used.
Artwork must contain the following:
ST-REPORT
The winning entry will be used at a later date for a newsletter or
magazine cover.
Where to Send
-------------
All art work may be uploaded to the following systems.
Syndicate BBS (201) 968-8148
Bounty ST BBS (904) 786-4176
Entries by mail are also permitted. Be sure to use a 3.5 floppy S/S!
You may send to:
ST-Report Logo Contest
Post Office Box 74
Middlesex, New Jersey 08846-0074
(Please include your name, address and telephone number)
Updates
-------
This contest will update uploading areas every two weeks. Contest rules
will not be changed, but judges may be added during the run of the
contest.
Current judge listing will be published next week.
This contest commences May 2, 1988 and will end Midnight August 31, 1988.
If you have any questions, Please leave email on the services at the
following addresses:
CompuServe: 71777,2140
GEnie : ST-REPORT
: R.KOVACS
DELPHI : RONKOVACS
The Source: BDG793
Rules and Regulations:
1). Use any full color program written exclusively for the ST to draw
your own personal design of an ST-Report logo.
2). Art work ported over from any other computer is void.
3). No X-rated art work will be accepted.
4). Winners will be announced by mail, email, phone call or equivalent
on or before September 12, 1988.
5). Judges decisions are final.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Changes/Enhancements
===============================
FoReM PC/ST ver. 2.2 Release B
===============================
7/16 Update Release:
The following functions have been sped up:
------------------------------------------
Reading Files directories Password search
Copy File Entering/Exiting message system
Less delay between messages Copying a file into ARCDL
Mail check at logon Zmodem download
New Features:
-------------
When replying to a message, you can now include a copy of the
original message in your reply. FoReM will prompt to see if
you want to do this.
A new privilege (31) has been added to allow SYSOP'S to use mailing
lists. When entering email, at the "To:" prompt, enter "LIST". This
is as it was previously, with the exception that the limit has
been raise to 50 from 10.
When FoReM comes back and asks for "To or <return>=no more:", enter
"FILE". FoReM will then ask for the name of a file containing the
names to send the message to.
Fnet mailing lists work similarly...
------------------------------------
When FoReM asks for "To:", enter FNET. When it asks for the node
number, enter "LIST", when it asks for the first node in the list,
enter "FILE". FoReM will ask for the name of the file containing a
list of nodes.
Note: The fnet list is meant for send a message to the SYSOP of
many nodes. The FoReM NET mailer will translate the name "SYSOP"
to the local sysop's name when the message is sent. This Feature
should only be used on messages addressed to "SYSOP".
Other privileges not yet documented:
------------------------------------
Priv 30 (CRASH_MAIL_P), is a FoReM PC / Fido interface function
which allows a user to send Fidonet Crash Mail. It is only for
those systems using BinkleyTerm as a front end to FoReM PC.
Priv 29 (RM_FILE_P) allows a user to delete any file in the file
area from the directory list command.
7/9 update release:
-------------------
The following functions have been sped up:
------------------------------------------
Reading Files directories
Password search
Copy File
If M/A is used an there are no new messages, a notice is sent.
A timeout has been added to the "getline" function. A line of text
must be input within 2 times the timeout value for a character. (Usually
4 minutes). If a full line is not entered in that time, FoReM will
prompt for a random letter. If this letter is not typed, the user
is logged off.
Two new data files have been added:
-----------------------------------
MSGDESC.DAT adds text descriptions to the list of message bases.
Its format is:
Message base #
Lines
of
Text
;
Message base #
Lines
of
Text
;
Example:
1
General Messages on any subject
;
2
Discussion of the current implementation
of FoReM and suggestions for future
versions/
;
The / on the end of the last line tells FoReM to NOT add a blank
line between the message base titles.
CROSSBBS.DAT is text file which tells FoReM what message bases are
being used for CROSSNET (by Ben Roth). If a message base is used with
Crossnet then FoReM will force all messages to be saved locally.
EXample:
3
4
5
!
The ! is an end of list marker.
A bug in CHECKSUM xmodem has been fixed.
A version 2.2 bug that required a message based ism file to
be rebuilt after the first message was entered has been fixed.
A "feature" where if an Fnet message was deleted before it was sent
caused the wrong messge to be sent has been fixed.
A couple of minor bugs have also been fixed which I haven't kept a list
of.
Additional Changes/Enhancement to FoReM PC/ST version 2.2
Message Editor
------- ------
FoReM will automatically select the storage requirements for a message
based on its length. A message less than 21 lines is stored in the
message data file, other wise it is stored as a file. The user
no longer has to select between "standard" and "extended" messges.
US ROBOTICS HST modem usage
FoReM now supports the fixed link mode of the HST modem. This will
allow the bbs to always talk to the modem at 19200 bps. This works
with all PC compatibles and Atari ST machines running with the
new "Mega ST" tos roms.
To use this mode, use any terminal program to write the following
settings into the HST modem's nram.
AT &H1 &I0 &B1 &R2 &W
You should be talking to the modem at 19200 when doing this.
Then, edit the FoReM.OPT file and change the default baud rate
number to the word HST.
NEW MESSAGE SEARCH OPTION
Message may now be searched by date. Using the message [L]ocate command,
you may now select to read messages entered after a given date.
NEW OPTIONAL TEXT FILES
Upon entering a file area, the file "SUBDIR".TXT is displayed where
SUBDIR is the name of the file area. Example: if the directory is
\forem\games, the file \forem\games.txt (\forem\txt\games.txt) will
be displayed.
DATNOTE.TXT is a DATED NOTICE file. If the file time stamp is later
than the callers last logon date, this then this file is displayed
after notice.txt and before the general bulletins.
MESAGEX.TXT (ie: mesage1.txt, mesage2.txt) is an optional text file
displayed upon entering a message base.
SYSPAS.TXT may be sent before the system password.
GETPHONE.TXT may be sent before the request for phone number.
FILE SYSTEM CHANGES
The file FTYPES.LST is now optional. If not there, the file
application in a verbose list will be blank. (And no application
will be asked for on an upload)
Listing of NEW files is now done by the last time any file
area was accessed instead of the last call date.
UPLOAD CHANGES
The prompt about upload size is only displayed when there is
less than 500K bytes free.
The prompt about Ascii or Binary uploads is only displayed if
the file extender is not recognized.
BATCH TRANSFER CHANGES
Command R from the FILES CMD> prompt may be used to remove a file
from the BATCH ARCDL CHANGES
FoReM may now add a non ARC'ed file to ARCDL. This requires that
ARC.TTP (ST) or ARC.EXE (PC) be "findable" by the system and that
you have enough ram to run ARC.
A option has been added to the ARCDL tools to remove a file from
the ARCDL archive.
NEW FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOLS
Zmodem protocol. The new standard for fast error free file transfers.
I tested it at 2400bps and it sent 224 chars a second; which is
93% efficient.
Ymodem G. This is yet another X/Y modem variant meant for error
correcting modems. Ymodem G does no ACK/NAK.
UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD RATIO
The upload download ratio is now set for each individual user via
the # command from the password editor.
UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD COUNTERS
You may now edit a users count of uploaded and download files
using the < and > commands from the password editor.
FNET CHANGES
Entries in FNETNODE.DAT may have an access level for the node at
column 75 (starting at 0). The user has an associated fnet access
level (0-255) set with command I at the pw> prompt.
Privilege 27 has be added to restrict sending of FMAIL through FNET.
SYSTEM LOGON REQUEST
F8 when hit while a user is online will toggle reserving the bbs
for a console logon when the current caller logs off. The BBS will
bring the modem offhook for 15 minutes.
USER LOGON REQUEST
From the sysop prompt, the R command will ask for a users name. Only
this user will be allowed to log on, until it is cancelled by entering
R again or pressing the F8 key.
MULTIPLE DOORS MENUS
For multiple doors files:
Edit a file DOORMENU.TXT. This is just like dbsel.txt as in:
1) Games
2) Quizes
3) Music
Then for each type, generate a "fdoorsX.dat file"
So all games would be in FDOORS1.DAT
DOORINFO.DEF
FoReM 2.2 supports the new standard for passing information to Doors
programs. A new line has been added to FOREM.OPT just after the via
message base line. On this line, should be the full path name to
where doors programs reside. In this directory, FoReM will write
DORINFO1.DEF . This file is defined as:
1 BBS NAME
2 SYSOP'S FIRST NAME
3 SYSOP'S LAST NAME
4 COMPORT COM1 COM2 NO COLON
5 1200,PAR,DATABIT,STOPBIT 1200,E,8,1
6 NETWORKING 0
7 USER'S FIRST NAME
8 USER'S LAST NAME
9 CITY STATE
10 GRAPHICS ON OFF FOR ANSI ONLY 0 or 1
11 SECURITY LEVEL OF USER
12 TIME LEFT IN MINTUES
BAUD RATE LOCKOUT
FoReM 2.0 allowed you not allow 300 baud users to log on. In 2.1, this
has been expanded to all baud rates. In FOREM.OPT, where previously
an "ON or OFF" value was entered to turn on the 300 baud lockout, now
you may enter the minimum baud rate to allow on your system.
LOGOFF BATCH FILE
LOGOFF.BAT is a command file which works just like the documented
FMAINT.BAT file except that it is executed after each user logs off.
MONTHLY BATCH FILE
MONTHLY.BAT is a command file just like LOGOFF.BAT which is executed
at MIDNIGHT on the first of each month JUST BEFORE accounting is done.
This might be used, for example, to run program to read the
password file and print bills.
DAILY BATCH FILE
DAILY.BAT is a command file just like LOGOFF.BAT which is executed
at MIDNIGHT.
PASSWORD APPLICATION CHANGES
The password application has been rewritten. The user is no longer
asked to verify each input, but will be given the chance to edit
his input before it is saved.
NUMBER OF DRIVES ALLOWED
FoReM will now support up to 16 partitions/drives. Sysgen will
still only allow 8.
DATA BASE CHANGES
FoReM 2.1 allows user to use file transfer protocols for the
sending of data base files. USR bit # 11 controls if this
is on or off for each user. The user may change this with
command T from within any data base.
If you have more than 1 data base, FoReM will display a menu
of them when entering the database area via the D command from
the main menu.
Other misc changes:
Existing extended messages up to 200 lines long may now be edited.
The lock/unlock status of a message may be changed by using the I
command at the end of reading the message. This requires privilege
# 28.
The date of an FMAIL message may be updated by the U command after
reading the message. This is useful if an fmail message you send
is about to expire and you want to give the user more days in which
to log on and get his file.
The use of doors may now be restricted by time. The file CONTIME.DAT
which for version 2.1 had two entries per line, now has 3 entries per
line. Each line of this file now contains:
time_percentage access level door access level
Ex:
50 6 10
If this were the first line in CONTIME.DAT, then between 12 midnight
and 12:30 am, only those users with access level 6 and above would
be allowed on the system. Of those users, only those with level 10
and above would be able to run doors. Additionally, anyone let on
the system would only be granted 50% of their normal access time.
TEXT PAGING
The paging option has been improved. When a user first logs on
or via the * command from the main FoReM> prompt, he may elect
to turn on text paging and set the number of lines at which to page.
Paging will only occur for text files and for messages.
On a console logon, the number of lines will always be 17 unless
the no local window option is used.
Running FoReM PC under QUARTERDECK'S DESQview:
---------------------------------------------
FoReM PC version 2.2 dated 4/7/88 or later can take advantage of
DESQview 2.01 or later using EEMS or LIM version 4.0 memory to
1) Run FoReM PC in the background
2) Give full memory space to "Doors" programs
You must "install" under DESQview both FOREMPC.EXE and RUN_DOOR.EXE.
When running DESQview, FOREM will execute RUN_DOOR.EXE telling it what
door to run. FoReM will then suspend and wait for RUN_DOOR to notify it
that it is done.
What to do:
Install FOREMPC.EXE under DESQVIEW, setting the following parameters
Memory size: At least 384K
Does not write directly to the screen
Does not display graphics
Can be swapped: If not using expanded ram, enter Y, otherwise it is
better to enter no.
Does not require floppy disk
Install RUN_DOOR.EXE into DESQview.
SET THE "KEYS TO USE TO OPEN MENU" to RD.
Memory size at least big enough to run your largest DOOR plus 50K.
CANNOT be swapped.
Make sure the path default directory are correct. RUN_DOOR should
reside in the default directory FoReM is run from.
Exit DESQview. The DESQview directory, there is a file named
rd-pif.dvp. Copy this file to the directory FoReM is run from.
That's all there is to it!
************************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
---------------------------------
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN.
The system will prompt you for your information.
THE GENIE ATARI ST ROUNDTABLE - AN OVERVIEW
-------------------------------------------
The Roundtable is an area of GEnie specifically set aside for owners and
users of Atari ST computers, although all are welcome to participate.
There are three main sections to the Roundtable: the Bulletin Board, the
Software Library and the Real Time Conference area.
The Bulletin Board contains messages from Roundtable members on a variety
of Topics, organized under several Categories. These messages are all
open and available for all to read (GEnie Mail should be used for private
messages). If you have a question, comment, hot rumor or an answer to
someone else's question, the Bulletin Board is the place to share it.
The Software Library is where we keep the Public Domain software files
that are available to all Roundtable members. You can 'download' any of
these files into your own computer by using a Terminal Program which uses
the 'XMODEM' file-transfer method. You can also share your favorite Public
Domain programs and files with other Roundtable members by 'uploading'
them to the Software Library. Uploading on GEnie is FREE, so you are
encouraged to participate and help your Roundtable grow.
The Real Time Conference is an area where two or more Roundtable members
may get together and 'talk' in 'real-time'. You can participate in
organized conferences with special guests, drop in on our weekly Open
COnference, or simply join in on an impromptu chat session. Unlike posting
messages or Mail for other members to read at some later time, everyone in
the Conference area can see what you type immediately, and can respond to
you right away, in an 'electronic conversation'.
Below is the Main Roundtable Menu, with these areas indicated:
GEnie ST Page 475
Atari ST RoundTable
Library: ALL Libraries
1. Atari ST Bulletin Board <-- Messages
2. Atari ST Real-Time Conference <-- Electronic Conversations
3. Atari ST RT Libraries <-- Software Library (Programs)
4. About the Roundtable
5. Roundtable News 880719
Enter #, <P>revious, or <H>elp?
GEnie uses 'Page Numbers' to indicate the menus for the different
Roundtables
on the system. In this case, the Atari ST Roundtable is Page 475.
Menu selection #4, 'About the Roundtable' will contain information about
the purpose of the Roundtable, and the system operators, or SysOps.
Choices #5 will contain bulletins and information. You may want to Capture
these and print them out for reference.
At the menu prompt, you can type P to return to the previous Menu (in this
case, the GEnie Atari Roundtables Menu), or H for more Help, or simply
type the number of your choice from the menu.
*************************************************************************
LEANING TOWARD THE FUTURE
=========================
Do you think a time will come when we will see Atari show the rest of the
computer market place how to do it right? Instead of the usual "You can't
do it that way"! perhaps Atari will show the way.
For Instance:
[A] Centralized Regional Master Service Centers
[B] Centralized Regional Master Distribution Centers
These central plants would of course be under the direct control of Atari,
thereby limiting the incidence of communication problems being seen at
this time between dep't. heads at the Sunnyvale complex.
* Putting in place an executive committee designed to keep the information
flow at the highest rate possible between the national centers. Not
permitting any junior executive to put in place any "official procedure"
on behalf of Atari without the approval of the executive committee.
* The day arrive when Atari believes that it's userbase has matured and
looks for more powerful and diversified computers and also has a large and
youthful upcoming userbase with which to perpetuate development of
quality equipment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOSTALGIA....REMEMBER WHEN?
===========================
Has it all been said before? Does it seem to sound the same?
ATARI NEWS ** ATARI PC: MYTH OR FICTION?
-----------------------------------------
January 6, 1988 --
------------------
"I'm sure that I will never see" "Atari's duplicate PC..." That song's
been sung for months.
There's been little evidence of the IBM clone Atari started showing a year
ago. But according to a classified advertisement in the San Jose Mercury
News, Atari is seeking a "Production Development/Sustaining Engineer for
our growing line of PS2/PCAT/PCXT systems."
________________________________________
Atari News Update
________________________________________
ATARI TO UNVEIL UNIX-LIKE SYSTEM (February. 22)
Look for Atari Corp. to use the stage of next month's Hanover Computer
Fair in West Germany for the coming-out party of its new low-cost
Unix-like, 68030-based workstations.
The workstation is based on Whitesmiths' Idris system which Atari
licensed last year. In addition, the newsletter reports it hears that
Atari also will introduce a desktop publishing system for under $5,000,
"getting close to the price of a good laser printer alone."
The publication says the system will be composed of the Mega computer,
the SLM804 laser printer and Atari Deskset software. "The software is
claimed to put true WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) on the
screen," CI says, "and page formatting will be handled inside the
computer rather than on the printer, 1 meg of memory being dedicated to
laser printer commands."
TOS ROMS -- BLITTER VERSION 8-29-87
------------------------------------
The 1987 revision of TOS is scheduled for release in conjunction with the
new "blitter" chip. The new TOS has been upgraded to include support for
the hardware blit as well as retaining the software blit functions for
full compatibility with older software which relies on hardware timing
(a definite no-no).
Changes in the new ROMs are:
RS232: The RS232 handler has been completely rewritten. RTS/CTS
handshaking now works. Baud rates 50 and 75 now work.
==============================
CLOCK: Support is now included for the Mega ST's built-in,
battery-backer-up realtime clock. The realtime clock is
automatically used by the XBIOS gettime and settime functions
for the IKBD. The GEMDOS clock is reset from the realtime
clock at the termination of every program.
STARTUP: Memory clear at system startup is much faster, improving
performance on multi-megabyte systems.
DESKTOP: The desktop now includes a control for deactivating/activating
the blitter chip. Also, the Save Desktop and Print Screen
selections will request confirmation. Spurious characters are
no longer written to the DESKTOP.INF file. Doing a PRINT or
SHOW from the desktop will now display characters with ASCII
codes above 127. SHOW and PRINT use a larger buffer now.
Single drive copies now require fewer disk swaps.
CART: Cartridge handling has been revides, eliminating the need for
"CARTSTART" code and allowing .TOS and .TTP programs. Lower
case letters will now be accepted and passed to an application
from the "Open Application ... Parameter" box.
AES: The AES will now send repeat clicks if the mouse button is held
down on the arrow or page controls of a window, which lets a
window smooth scroll. The AES underscore bug is now fixed.
APPL_TPLAY and APPL_TRECORD now work. The limit of 30
characters on a line in an alert box is now rigidly enforced.
MOUSE: The mouse redraw can now be set to XOR mode. The system will
return after a single click if this is what was requested.
DMA: The DMA bus can now have more than one device attached at
powerup time, without any special software.
FLOPPY: The floppy read/write code checks for more errors now. In prior
versions, the system would not report a CRC error under certain
circumstances; now it will. This hurts some copy protection
schemes. The format of the floppy disk has been skewed from
track to track to improve disk speed; the XBIOS supports this
by using-1 for the skew value and placing a pointer to a one
word per sector skew table in the previously unused longword.
VDI: The VDI will now draw arcs with small angles.
BIOS: Character out routines are much faster.
BLITTER: Automatic blitter chip support is included in line-A and VDI
calls. The extended inquire will report a larger performance
factor than before, allowing applications to check for the
presence of the blitter. A new XBIOS call has been added to
check for the blitter and to activate or deactivate it. The
blit is not reentrant --line-A and VDI should not be called
from within an interrupt.
REGISTER: The registers D0, D1, D2, A0, A1, A2 have always been forfeit
when a trap call was made. Now the demise of these occurs
under more conditions than before.
MEMORY: Slightly more RAM is used by the system. Programs that were
close to the edge on a 520ST may no longer fit.
VARIABLE: Most undocumented system variables have been moved. You were
warned!
NOTES AND WARNINGS:
1. Some programs depend on the OS always being at $FC0000. This is *not*
cast in stone and will probably change soon. To find the OS header,
use the pointer "sysbase" as documented.
2. The 4 megabyte ST puts the screen near the end of accessible RAM.
Sloppy programs that have been writing past the end of the screen will
give bus errors if they do so on the 4 meg ST.
Ah yes, this version was to end all the problems...and NOW we feverishly
await an even newer version....HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
GFA Basics A
=============
by Rick Taylor
Do you believe that 'C' stands for 'confused', that 68000 Assembler if
for numerologists, and that ST Basic is for the gullible (not to mention
patient) crowd? Don't despair. There is a language for your ST that
operates at near 'C' speed, allows 'C' and ML subroutines, handles GEM
calls with ease, and best of all is simple to learn. Very simple.
Even if you've never programmed before, you'll quickly be up and running
with GFA Basic. Those who've programmed in Pascal will appreciate the
programming structure possible in GFA Basic; structure is something not
usually associated with any Basic dialect. Those who've already
developed 'spaghetti-code' habits won't have a problem adapting to GFA.
It's very forgiving.
GFA Basic was developed in Germany by GFA Systemtechnik, a company that
specializes in writing mainframe computer languages. The programmer
responsible for this remarkable product also wrote the public-domain
Turbo Basic for the 8-bit Atari's, one of the fastest Basics for any
6502-based computer. The only shortcoming with Turbo Basic was the lack
of comprehensive documentation, a fault shared by it's 16-bit offspring.
This limitation has been addressed, as pointed out below.
The manual that comes with GFA Basic is a revision of the original,
which was far below acceptable. This newer edition does correctly and
completely cover all of the available commands and functions of the
language, however, that's all it does. To my way of thinking, with a
language so far from any other Basic on the market, it should have a
tutorial section to show the user how to start programming in it.
Veteran Basic programmers shouldn't have any difficulty adapting from
their former Basics though.
If you are stuck, or just want to more thoroughly learn GFA Basic,
Michtron (the distributor of GFA Basic) and GFA Systemtechnik have
introduced a guidebook and disk for their product. It isn't cheap at
$39.95, but may be a good investment if you're serious about progressing
with GFA.
If you've experimented with ST Basic at all, you'll really be glad to
know that GFA's editor is of the full-screen variety (editing an ST Basic
program is something I wouldn't wish on an enemy). GFA's editor almost
qualifies as a full-blown word-processor, having many cut & paste
functions (search and replace, copy, move and delete blocks, etc.).
You can type either in 'insert' or 'overwrite' mode, upper or lower case,
and abbreviate many keywords. If, for example, you were to type:
?"Press a key
inp key$
The interpreter would instantaneously (upon a carriage return) alter it
to read:
Print "Press a key"
Input Key$
The extra quotes, spacing and full command words are added automatically
and without a bothersome error message. Our example above raises a
question to those unfamiliar with GFA though: Where are the line numbers?
Answer: There are none!
This throws you the first time you write a GFA program, but once used to
it, you'll never want your code interrupted by pesky line numbers again.
Trust me.
"But how do I jump from one area of a program to another?", you might
ask? Simple. GFA uses 'labels' instead of numbers, and I'll show you
below how that works. First lets use an example in traditional Basic:
1577 GOSUB 10000: PRINT "All Done!"
Now the GFA version:
Gosub Calculate
Print "All Done!"
You can put your "Calculate" subroutine anywhere in the program, and GFA
will find it, as long as the first line of the routine says: "Procedure
Calculate" and of course the last line must say "Return". If you were
using a "Goto", then your label would be simply "Calculate:". These
labels also offer a convenient way of looking through your program
listing. Simply type the name of the label as search criteria, and the
editor will take you right there. Neat, huh?
Although I've only touched on a few of the features of GFA Basic, I hope
it will be enough to encourage you to purchase this unique software. The
retail price is $79.95, but many dealers sell it for far less. I bought
a copy from Michtron at last years Glendale Atari Faire, and saved quite
a bit.
If you don't already have GFA Basic, go out and buy a copy! Then in
future columns we can explore together the fun of programming in this
amazing language.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORD PROCESSING CAN BE A DIRTY WORD!
====================================
By Rick Taylor
From The AA-AUG Memo Pad
What has that to do with GFA Basic? Be patient - I'll get to that, but
first of all let me rant a bit!
Most of us have at least one program that requires an ".INF" file
(a short text file which has INFormation that the program uses). Perhaps
it's one of those RAMdisks that needs to know what size to make itself?
Or maybe you use STARTGEM to autorun your GEM files; it requires a
STARTGEM.INF file in order to know which program you wish it to load
automatically. In any case, ".INF" files are usually nothing more than a
line or two of ASCII text - no problem for most any word-processor,
right? Right. The only problem is, who wants to wait for a mighty
word-processor to load when all we want to do is write a few measly
bytes of straight ASCII text to the disk?
Remember the good 'ole 8-bit computers? From DOS 2.5 you could easily
accomplish the task of writing a small file to the disk by choosing
[C]opy, and telling DOS you were copying from "E:" (the screen editor)
to "D:FILENAME.EXT". After you typed in your text, you just pressed
CONTROL-3 to alert DOS you were finished, and "bleep*bleep*bleep" the
file was written to disk. Oh well, enough reminiscing - let's write a
short file in GFA Basic that will do the same thing, and load in a snap.
WHY DIRTY WORD?
The accompanying listing is named 'Dirty Word' simply because it is a
quick 'n dirty word-processor! Actually, it doesn't really qualify as
a word-processor at all, since it has no advanced editing features. You
don't have word-wrap (we covered that in a previous column), or search
and replace, or even the ability to load files. What does it have? Well,
you may type in some text, save it to disk, and, er, I guess that about
covers it! I should mention that most of your editing keys are valid,
thus you may use BACKSPACE and DELETE for normal corrections, and the
right and left arrow keys to reach any part of your text. The beginning
and end of text can reached by using the up and down arrow keys
respectively.
SO WHY USE IT?
If you want to write little ".INF" files to disk, and hate waiting for
those big word-processors to load, this may be your ticket. If you have the GFA Basic Compiler, you can compile this little program, and it will load in just a few seconds from the GEM desktop.
The following listing is short and easy to follow. I've commented it so
that just about anybody can understand what's going on. Hope you get some
use from this "quick 'n dirty" program named Dirty Word!
Alert 1,"DirtyWord!|Version .001|By Rick Taylor",1,"Uh huh",Dummy
Dim Line$(24) ! Set the maximum amount of lines.
Cls ! Clear the screen.
Print
Print "Press [RETURN] on a blank line to end input."
Print
'
Main:
'
Do
Inc Line_num ! Increment the line number,
Print Line_num;"] "; ! and show it on each line.
Form Input 75,Line$(Line_num) ! 75-char input per line.
Exit If Line$(Line_num)="" ! Look for a blank line.
Loop ! Do it again...
'
Alert 2," |What will you do?",1,"Save|Quit|Cancel",Answer
'
If Answer=1 ! Save it.
Fileselect "A:\*.*","TEMP.DAT",F$ ! Get a filename.
If F$="" ! Oops - no filename given,
Goto Main ! so go back to the editor.
Endif
Open "O",#1,F$ ! Create the file.
If Line_num=1 ! How do we save just a C/R?
Inc Line_num ! By adding a fake line!
Endif
For Count=1 To Line_num-1 ! Delete the blank line.
Print #1;Line$(Count) ! Write it.
Next Count
Close #1 ! Close the file,
Run ! and rerun the program.
Endif
'
If Answer=2 ! Quit.
End
Endif
'
Goto Main ! Continue after CANCEL.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GFA Basics B
============
by Rick Taylor
If you're joining us for the first time, welcome to the column! Last
month we featured a tutorial on creating a word-wrapping routine with
GFA Basic; this routine was actually a subroutine from a word-processor
I wrote. Who would have thought you could have a speedy word-processor
in Basic? With GFA Basic (and especially the GFA Compiler), anything is
possible.
This month, we'll look at some hints and tips for using GFA. Some are
very simple, others more advanced-hopefully there will be something for
everyone. If you're new to structured languages, you might gain some
insight by reading up on Pascal. While GFA Basic is not as structured
as Pascal is, I find it to be similar in may ways (thus you could dub it
BASCAL!).
A rule of thumb with any structured language is to comment your code as
much as possible. Programs that you write today will not be as fresh in
our mind a year from now, so good commenting will help you remember what
you were doing when you look back on old program listings. Here's the
three ways you can add comments to your code:
Rem (this means REMark, and is common to most BASIC's)
' (this works the same as Rem, but is shorter)
! (use the exclamation mark if you want to add a comment on the same
line as the code itself)
In addition to comments, the use of descriptive variable names is vital.
Using a variable name such as 'X1' makes your code look arcane. It's
much better to use descriptive names, such as 'Player1_total', 'Count',
or 'Users_age'. This of course applies to all types of variables;
descriptive string variable names might be 'Answer$', or 'Filename$',
or even 'File_to_delete$'. The point is to make your code readable so
that if you need help, another programmer can easily see what your
program is doing.
And now for some various GFA tips: First off, since the ST can run in
three resolutions, we need to know what resolution the user is in, so
that we can adjust the text and graphics displays. The following lines
do just that.
Rez=Xbios(4) ! Determines the resolution.
If Rez=0 Then
? "Low Resolution"
Endif
If Rez=1 Then
? "Medium Resolution"
Endif
If Rez=2 Then
? "High Resolution"
Endif
Some notes about the above code: Notice we used a descriptive variable
name (Rez); although it's a short name, it's obvious to the reader
(especially after reading the remark after the '!' symbol) that Rez
holds the Resolution. Notice too that in the IF-THEN-ENDIF construction,
we used the optional 'THEN'. You could omit it, but it makes the code
seem more readable.
Another point on variable names is the type of variable we used. If we
needed faster execution, we could use 'integer variables'. These are
recognized by the interpreter as having a '%' suffix. Thus, the variable
Rez could also be the integer variable Rez%, since we know it will not
hold a floating point number.
Another quick tip: Some users have wondered how to incorporate GEM
Fileselect boxes in their own programs. It's easy! Here's the format:
Fileselect "\*.*","",File$
If you type in that one line of code and run it, you'll see the familiar
GEM Fileselect box appear. The "\*.*" is the search path, it appears on
the line 'Directory' in the Fileselect box. The empty string "" is the
default file which will appear under 'Selection'. File$ is the string
variable that will hold the name of the file that the user actually
chooses. If you wanted to get fancy, and use variables to store the path
and filenames, you could do something like this:
Fileselect Path$+"*.*",Old_file_name$,Filename$
Simple, huh? Try doing it in a 'lower-level' language, and see how simple
it is!
The latest version is 2.02, if you have an older version, send your disk
and $5.00 to Michtron for an upgrade.
Well that's it for this month. With all the new tutorials and books
coming out for GFA Basic, we should have plenty to talk about in the
months ahead. If you need a quick answer to a programming question,
just logon to the AA-AUG BBS, I check in daily.
Rick Taylor, Editor
Atari Anonymous Memo Pad
P.O. Box 1433
Upland, CALIFORNIA. 91786
I look forward to hearing from you. See you next time...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
GFA BASIC: String Matching by Confidence Factor
===============================================
by Brian Biggs
I ran across an article in the July '88 issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal that
deals with pattern matching based on the Ratcliff/Obershelp algorithm, and
thought it may be of interest to someone. The algorithm compares matching
sequences of letters between two strings and returns a confidence factor
that may be used in a nondeterministic program. This allows the computer
to ask a question and evaluate the users answer from text strings, rather
than the multiple guess format traditionally used. To demonstrate this
algorithm, enter and run the program at the end of this article (the best
part: Spelling does NOT count!).
The program is divided into roughly 3 components, the game data, the game
procedure, and the pattern matching routines (SIMIL and MYINSTR). These
may be ported for use in your own programs with little or no modification
needed. Some ideas presented in the Dr. Dobbs article include use in DOS
shell programs, adventure games and compilers. For a full description of
the idea of pattern matching, you'll need to get a copy of the magazine
and read the article. It is very good, and easy to understand.
The only limitation to the algorithm in this application is it's
inability to determine if a numeric response is reasonably close, and for
that reason the final confidence/answer pair begins with a numeric choice,
and confidence factor of 100%.
This program should be easy to modify to run from files of text Q&A's,
allowing you to create and enter your own questions. No score keeping is
performed here, but that too should be easy to add. The resulting program
could be used to quiz students or play text oriented games. Enjoy!
Trivia ST
A module to computerize a trivia game. ' ' Data format starts with a
question (multiple lines are fine), use a single "A" to delimit answers.
The answer field may be up to 10 pairs of confidence factor, answer; with
a trailing value of 0. A single "Q" delimits the next ' question, and the
token "*END" is used to flag the end of data. Note the ' last question in
the game requires a 100% confidence factor for a numeric ' answer. (the
algorithm won't accept 39 as even close, and 41-49 are equally ' compared
at 50% confidence) '
Gamedata: Data What 19th-century English scientist traveled to Data the
Galapagos Islands and studied their strange Data forms? Data A Data 70,
Charles Darwin,80,Darwin,0 Data Q Data What's the rolling home of a
wandering gypsies Data called? Data A Data 75,A caravan,0 Data Q Data What
country was Golda Meir once prime Data minister of? Data A Data 80,
Israel,0 Data Q Data What kind of sports event has riders on horses Data
racing over hedges fences and water? Data A Data 75,A steeplechase,0 Data
Q Data How fast can a full-grown white-tailed jack Data rabbit hop --
20 40 or 60 miles per hour? Data A Data 100,40,90,Forty,60,Forty miles
per hour,0 Data *END ' ' Begin the game procedure ' Dim Ans$(10),
Confidence(10) Dim Stack$(10,2) Restore Gamedata '
Question: ' ' check for end of game data ' Print If A$="*END"
Print "Thanks for playing!"
Pause 150
Stop Endif ' ' Read and display the question data ' Read A$ Repeat
Print A$
Read A$ Until A$="A" ' ' Read and store the confidence value and answer
pairs ' Read C,A$ Ans=0 ' Repeat
Inc Ans
Confidence(Ans)=C
Ans$(Ans)=Upper$(A$)
Read C,A$ Until A$="Q" Or A$="*END" ' ' Get a response from the player
and compare the result against the answers ' looking for an answer in the
confidence range specified. ' Try=0 Answer: Input Response$
Response$=Upper$(Response$) ' For X=1 To Ans
@Simil(RespCo 301162nse$,Ans$(X),*Value)
' Print "Compare ";Ans$(X);" confidence = ";Value;"%"
Exit If Value>=ConfidenceID BDG793(X) Next X ' ' Tell player the result
of this response pass ' If Value>=Confidence(X)
Print "Answer: ";Ans$(X);" -- you score!"
Goto Question Endif ' Inc Try ' ' Permit the player 3 tries to get a
reasonable answer. ' If Try=3
Print "Sorry... the answer was: ";Ans$(1)
Goto Question Else
Print "Nope... try again"
Goto Answer Endif ' ' Sub-procedures for the string comparison begin
here. ' Procedure Simil(Stra$,Strb$,P.pcnt%)
'
Local Pos,Len,Stknum,Totchr,Common,P2
'
' Initialize comparison values for this run
'
Stknum=0 ! Stack pointer
Totchr=Len(Stra$)+Len(Strb$) ! Total score possible
Common=0 ! Score by common strings
'
Sloop:
'
@Myinstr(Stra$,Strb$,*Pos,*Len)
'
If Len=0
Goto Slen0
Endif
'
' We need to know where in strb$ the match lives
'
P2=Instr(Strb$,Mid$(Stra$,Pos,Len))
'
' Save the left string (if any) for later compare
'
If Pos>1 Then
Inc Stknum
Stack$(Stknum,1)=Mid$(Stra$,1,Pos-1)
Stack$(Stknum,2)=Mid$(Strb$,1,P2-1)
Endif
'
' Save the right string (if any) for later compare
'
If Pos+Len<Len(Stra$)
Inc Stknum
Stack$(Stknum,1)=Mid$(Stra$,Pos+Len)
Stack$(Stknum,2)=Mid$(Strb$,P2+Len)
Endif
'
' Increment the commanality score by the number of matched characters
' for this pass.
'
Common=Common+2*Len
'
Slen0:
'
' When the stack is NOT empty, there are more substrings to compare
'
If Stknum>0
Stra$=Stack$(Stknum,1)
Strb$=Stack$(Stknum,2)
Dec Stknum
Goto Sloop
Endif
'
' Return the calculated score for this pair of strings
'
*P.pcnt%=Int((Common*100/Totchr)+0.5)
' Return ' Procedure Myinstr(Stra$,Strb$,P.pos%,P.len%)
'
Local X,Y,N,M,M0,Z
'
' find the largest matching substring between stra$ and strb$
'
X=1
Y=0
For N=1 To Len(Stra$)
M=Len(Stra$)-N+1
For M0=M Downto Y
Z=Instr(Strb$,Mid$(Stra$,N,M0))
If Z>0 And M0>Y
Y=M0
X=N
Endif
Next M0
Next N
'
*P.pos%=X
*P.len%=Y Return
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST REPORT CONFIDENTIAL
======================
CALIFORNIA Atari should get rid of those horrid sounding speaker phones
------------ they are using, they make the people at Atari sound like
'droids.....
NEVADA Seems some "big wigs" at Tahoe are miffed at each other about
------ certain plans over an exotic piece of hardware...tsk tsk!
NEW YORK Seems the Advertising we all are waiting to see is going to
-------- be mediocre at best for the ST. The ratio of bux for ads
is sort of lop-sided in favor of the game machines....
CALIFORNIA When the cat's away, the mice play,....there may be some
---------- feathers flying when the wigs get back from Tahoe, a few
little people have flexed their muscles and will definately
cause serious ripples by having done so......
FLORIDA The LAND SALES deals using Atari's name and calling a 26.00
------- printing calculator "A DESK TOP COMPUTER" is about to hit the
news, another FIRST for ATARI! (Hey Buddy, wanna buy some
nice waterfronted property?)
FLORIDA The President of a Usergroup was asked, Where is the new
------- G-Dos Atari talked about a while back, you know, the auto
scaling version? Well Atari???.....
NEW YORK GEM 2.2, A version of Gem is in circulation in Europe, not
-------- by Atari Overseas ...but private and reported to be
excellent. Handles bigger H/D partitions and many other
small problems are corrected.
NEW YORK Unix now has a mouse driven, icon-based, graphics interface.
-------- It's name is "OPEN LOOK". It features pop-up dialog boxes,
pull down menus, overlapping windows and push buttons.
CALIFORNIA Seems the 68000 game machine is a happening after all.... STG
----------
VIRGINIA OSI, Open Systems Interconnection, an International Computer
-------- Communications Standard, adopted by COS, Corporation for Open
Systems, a neighbor of the CIA, has joined forces with no
less than 12 other MAJOR computer technology companies.
AT&T, IBM, SUN are few involved. The goal is to allow ALL
computers to be able to exchange info via a common GLOBAL
networking system where there are no compatibility problems
hardware or software.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
COURTING FINANCIAL CHAOS
========================
by T."Rex" Reade
Every once in a while an executive will make a judgement call that will
never be forgotten. In my humble opinion, the decision to release a
certain Desk Top Publishing program prematurely will be remembered as one
of those blunders.
Comes now a clammering group of faithful owners begging, scratching and
generally make a full pain in the a** of themselves wanting the newest
version of this program. Not a soul has stopped to think of the reason(s)
why this particular program has been suffering delays, they just want it
now.
To pre-release or beta test is one thing, to send an unfinished program to
every person who has paid the fee to step "up" to this program is, in my
opinion, bordering on the threshold of insanity.
One very major point to think about is how many of those "early copies"
are actually in release? Can they be traced? If so..they should be.
You ask why?....That's easy, this "beta or pre-release or what ever it's
called is all over the country already and....most of the neophytes being
exposed to it are experiencing GREAT DIFFICULTY trying to use it. With
that in mind, no reasonable person will dispute the fact this will depress
the overall sales of this product unless a massive campaign is launched to
tell everyone the "final" version is much improved over this "DEMO"
release. There is an idea, call this pre-release a "DEMO"!
Hopefully, when the final version is ready for the market place, the
marketplace will accept it as a perfected release and not just another
unhatched egg. The bottom line is: IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN CIRCULATED
BEFORE BEING FINISHED, DEBUGGED AND MADE FULLY MARKET READY. Another whiz
kid sales and marketing blunder.
A very wise and heavily experience gentleman "quiped" to me, "Rex,
Sometimes the users advice can and will kill you, other times it can be a
Godsend". This may very well sum up the entire picture, where a fine
software company has allowed itself to be stampeded by a "Loyal Following"
of users who just couldn't wait for "the real thing" and wanted a teaser
or sampler or as mentioned before a... *** DEMO *** ....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=:OF SPECIAL INTEREST:=
-------------------
by Scott Swain
In this document I once again outline my intention to create a
catalog of Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) in the U.S. and Canada.
The concept is essentially the same but, as before, I have added more
function codes.
For those of you not familiar with the previous versions of this
document, I'm simply trying to solicit Sysops and users alike for any
information they can supply on the various BBSes in the U.S. and Canada.
This info will be put into a catalog of BBSes which will be made
available as a door on my BBS, as BBS lists probably broken up by area
code and distributed through Public Domain channels and also (maybe)
published, in it's entirety, as a printed guide to BBSes in North
America. On this last option, I would appreciate your input so that I
can get an idea of what kind of market there would be for it. Simply
leave me Email on CompuServe or on my BBS (see below).
I have given up the idea of distributing the list as one file. The
reason being that, even as an archive, it would be too big. The
database alone with 4500+ listings in it is well over a megabyte! The
output list would be several times that! So it will have to be broken
up somehow depending on the situation.
As usual (you were expecting this, right?) here is a list of the
information that I'm asking for:
The BBS name
The city & state its in
The BBS phone number (including area code)
The baud rate settings
UART params. (data bits, parity & stop bits, ie. 8N1, 7E1, etc.
It's hours of operation
The Sysop's name
The BBS software in use (ie. PCBoard, RBBS, etc.)
The Network name & Net/Node ID for this system (if any)
The hard disk size (ie. 20M for 20 Megabytes, etc.)
The system's "specialty" or "specialties"
The access method (dial-up, PC Pursuit, 800-number, etc.)
The function(s) of the BBS
As you can see, I have also added a new field. There seems to
be a growing system of 'Networks' of BBSes, I think it's becoming
necessary to include the network name and net/node ID for each system
on these networks. For example, if a BBS is node 010 on network 001 of
the FidoNet network. The entry for the 'Network' field would be as
follows:
FidoNet: 001/010
This is assuming that this system IS on a network. If not, leave
this entry blank. Usually Fidos and OPUSes (and maybe some others) are
on the FidoNet network and GT POWER systems are on the GT Network.
There are probably other networks out there but these are the only ones
that I know of at the moment. In my next issue, I may list known
networks to put in this field and 'standard' entries.
You will see that what used to be the 'Computers' entry is now
called 'Specialty'. I did this so that more than just computers can be
listed here (ie. operating systems, hobbies, etc. and some special
interests).
In the beginning of this document, I mentioned that I have added
more function codes. Function codes make it easy to describe the
individual features of the BBS in question. These codes are used in
the 'function' field of the entry listing. They may be in any order
and in either upper or lower case. Some systems are oriented towards
specific interests or themes. Others may provide services or
information in certain areas. The list of current codes is:
System capabilities BBS interests/theme
msg - Messages or Email med - Medical
dwn - Public Domain files avail. rel - Religious
gam - Online game(s) adu - Adult
cnf - Conferencing inv - Investments
drs - Doors com - Commercial
mlt - Multi-user system nws - News reports
add - Private adds
edu - Education
law - Law/legal
sci - Science
Other items
org - Original BBS system
pay - Access fees charged
pvt - Private system
gov - Government system
usg - Users Group
val - Validation required
reg - Register by mail
If none are specified then the functions 'msg' and 'dwn' are
assumed.
The 'law' code means that the system provides legal aid or is used
mainly by lawyers. The 'sci' code means that the system is
oriented
towards science and provides scientific information. The particular
field of science is up to you to find out. This code can also
represent a system that deals in science fiction.
For those of you who have read previous versions of this document
before, this part will be familiar. But for those of you who have NOT,
well here goes. Since I have to put each BBS listing through a
conversion program to convert it into a format that can be merged into
my database, each entry must be in a certain format. The following
table shows the entry listing format with examples:
Entry Name Example (using my system) Maximum Length
---------- ------------------------- --------------
BBS name Console Command Headquarters 35
City Goleta 20
State CA 2
Phone number 805-968-5094 12
Baud rate(s) 300/1200/2400/9600 20
UART parameters 8-N-1 5
Hours 24 32
Sysop Scott Swaine 30
BBS software GT Power 20
Network GT Network: 054/000 20
Disk size 286M 10
Specialty(ies) IBM and compats. 25
Access dial-up 15
Function msg dwn gam drs add val none
You may notice that I put dashes between each character in the
UART parameters. You may or may not do this, my program doesn't care.
It fixes it so that they are there regardless. Also notice that the
phone number follows the format ###-###-####. Please use this format.
There is no limit on how many function codes you may define but since I
am currently using Turbo Pascal, I can only read a line of up to 255
characters (which is more than enough).
If an entry in the listing is blank then leave the line for it
blank but there should be 14 lines in each listing. If you have any
more ideas about what kind of important information should be included
in the BBS listings, please tell me.
And, of course, how could I go without listing the Canadian
province codes that I'm using in my list.
Here they are:
AB - Alberta BC - British Columbia
ON - Ontario QB - Quebec
MB - Manitoba SS - Saskatchewan
LB - Labrador NS - Nova Scotia
NF - Newfoundland NT - Notre Dame
NB - New Brunswick PE - Prince Edward Is.
NW - Northwest Territories YK - Yukon
And the abbreviations for the only two US territories I ever hear
about or see:
PR - Puerto Rico VI - Virgin Islands
Although I'm still using File Express to manage my database, I am
planning to:
1) Either make my own special-purpose database program,
or
2) Get someone else to do it. Number two doesn't imply that I'm
looking for help, it just means that I'm lazy. I already know who
I want to do it for me. But in the mean time, if any of you have a
list of BBSes in File Express (ver. 4.11) format (or one that can be
imported into it) then you can send that if you like.
As soon as I get the custom database made, it will serve as a door
on my BBS. The caller will be able to use it to search through the
list and find BBSes in their area or around the country and in Canada.
With all the BBSes in operation, it would be nice to have a master
catalog of them so if you can help out, it would really be appreciated!
I'm still looking for volunteers to keep me informed on the status
of BBSes on a monthly basis. Since I have so many, it's going to cost
$$$ to call them myself. All those who are interested can contact me
via the information below.
Keep a lookout for updates to this info. Thank you and happy
BBSing!
Scott Swaine, Sysop
Console Command Headquarters
(805) 968-5094, 24 hours/day
300/1200/2400/9600 baud, 8-N-1
GT Network net/node 054/000
CompuServe ID: 72057,1542
= * =
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ST-REPORT Issue #45 July 25, 1988 (c)'88 APEInc. All Rights Reserved.
Reprint permission granted except where noted in the article. Any reprint
must include ST-Report and the author in the credits. Views Presented
herein are not necessarily those of ST-Report or of the Staff.
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